


3^ 



Number One 



The Year Book Of 
THE PEGASUS 



"TO TURN AND WIND 
A FIERY PEGASUS" 



J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY 
PHILADELPHIA MDCCCXCV 



Number One 



The Year Book Of 
THE PEGASUS 



"TO TURN AND WIND 
A FIERY PEGASUS" 



"Pci <^a sua c\ u b , Th \ \ s^ 4e \ p'h \ : 



J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY 
PHILADELPHIA MDCCCXCV 



1^ 



Copyright, 1895, 

BY 

The Pegasus Club. 



All the poems in this collection were, before 
publication, submitted to and accepted by The 
Pegasus, in accordance witli tlie rules of the Club. 



2 



fib 



v4 

o 



T 

s TO THE READER 

s 

yfS forth and fro in town we went^ 
'^ Not one a winged steed. 
But drudges all, and all intent, — 

A harnessed, punctual breed, — 
Our day held too much prose for us 
And drove our thoughts to Pegasus. 

A bit of cheese, a mug of ale. 
Some smoke, and some discourse 

Were decent things, though they might fail 
To put wings on a horse ; 

And we would know the joy immense 

Of minstrels with an audience. 

We met upon a friendly time 
And saw that it was well. 

For some of us could make a rhyme. 
And most of us could spell; 

With ale and cheese for antidote. 

We swallowed what each other wrote. 

3 



TO THE READER 

We bring no message^ we're aware ; 

No missions us inspire; 
No Schuylkill yel nor Delaware 

Have we bards set afire ; 
Ballads and sonnets us avail 
For bits of cheese and mugs of ale. 

So do we while the years away ; 

Up-town the muse still sings ; 
Down-town we're hauling still our dray., 

And still we have no wings : 
Therefore it is we like to boast 
That we can limp as well as most. 



Owen Wister. 



CONTENTS AND AUTHORSHIP 

PAGE 

To THE Reader Owen Wister 3 

Out of the Beast Solomon Salts Cohen ... 7 

The Army of Despair J. Chalmers Da Costa . . 9 

Cedar Hollow Frank Miles Day .... 12 

The Overture Charles H. A. Esling ... 13 

The Ladies of Manhattan Arthur Hale 18 

Incompleteness John H. Ingham .... 20 

Charles Henry Luders Gilbert P. Knapp . . . . 21 

Melancholy Ernest Lacy 22 

To Barbara John Kearsley Mitchell . . 23 

The Passing of Tennyson S. Weir Mitchell .... 25 

5 



CONTENTS AND AUTHORSHIP 



The Constellations 



Oracle 



Arcadians Both 



The Prince of Peace 



The Beggar's Gift 



Mors Benefica 



Of Women Clerks 



Dreamland 



But Yesterday 



Love Came to Me 



Charles Leonard Moore . 
Harris 0/2 S. Morris 
Oliver Perry-Smith 
Charles Pomeroy Sherman 
S. Decatur Smith, Jr. 
Edmund Clarence Stedman 
John Stewardson . 
Henry H. Supplee . . . 
Harvey Maitland Watts . 
Francis Howard Williams 



The Ground-Hog and the 

Signal-Service Officer Owen Wister 



28 
33 
35 
37 
40 

42 
43 
44 
45 

47 

48 



THE YEAR BOOK OF THE PEGASUS 



OUT OF THE BEAST 



/^UT of the beast have we risen ; but mark, we have 
^"^ risen 

Out of the beast I Who goes out, from the darkness, 
from prison. 

Back turneth never. 
Out of the beast and out of the law of the beast-kind 
forever, 

Mark, we have risen. 



Nature through ages of travail gave birth to the human ; 
Brute all she bare before. Now on the earth man and 
woman 

Up stood, upgazing. 
Thrilled and rejoiced all her worlds with the pang of 
that wondrous upraising 

Birth to the human. 



THE YEAR BOOK OF THE PEGASUS 

Preach not alone what we were, O ye wise men, but 

tell us 
What we may be if we will. Still to rise — show — 
impel us ! 

Man shall be angel. 
Brute that was, man that is, God-like can strive, and be. 
This new evangel. 

Wise men but tell us. 

Solomon Soils Cohen. 



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THE YEAR BOOK OF THE PEGASUS 



THE ARMY OF DESPAIR 

TTE died alone ; in all this mighty city 
"*" Not one came forth to stand beside his bed, 
To speak of hope, to whisper words of pity, 
To close his weary lids when he was dead. 

Alone, he struggled with disease and sorrow. 
Alone, he fought with hunger and with cold ; 

Each night he prayed there would be no to-morrow 
To taunt his weakness with its beams of gold. 

Starved, within sound of steps and laughing people. 
Starved, in the splendor of a glorious day, 

Starved, while the bell which hangs in yonder steeple 
Called people from their homes to come and pray ; 

To hear the words Christ spoke upon the mountain. 

To hear of virtue, charity, and right. 
And of the waters of Bethesda's fountain, 

While this dead man lay pallid in the light. 

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THE YEAR BOOK OF THE PEGASUS 

So every day the bells are loudly ringing, 
And sending out their summons on the air, 

And Christians come with muttering and singing, 
And bow their heads and spirits in the prayer. 

So every day are human creatures dying. 

And every day hearts break from weight of care, 

And wringing hands and faces grooved with crying 
Are passed with downcast eyes by men of prayer. 

Man's creed is one of word and not of action, 
The God who scatters manna in the land 

For priest-held spirits offers less attraction 

Than when he holds a red sword in his hand. 

Oh, men with hearts I can you gaze with unkindness 
On human souls for all time steeped in woe ^ 

On eyes forever closed and sealed by blindness 
To all the joys and pleasures that you know ? 

On men whose voices echo out their sadness, 

Whose ears have never known a word that's kind. 

With minds like ruined cities, wrecked by madness ? 
Such is the state of millions of your kind. 

10 



THE YEAR BOOK OF THE PEGASUS 

Give up the play of idle priestly canting, 
Go out among mankind with loaf and cup. 

Without a thought of praying or of chanting, 
Give food and drink and raise the fallen up. 

y. Chalmers Da Costa, 



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THE YEAR BOOK OF THE PEGASUS 



CEDAR HOLLOW 

TDELOVED, close thy fringed lids and see 

Again that happy hollow where we stood 
While to us rose the charmed interlude 
Of rippling waters. There with motion free 

The billowy hills sweep up, while solemnly 
The deep sad cedars on their summits stand 
Dark 'gainst the azure. So the smiling land 

Of fair Urbino far across the sea 

Lies wrapt in music 'neath her peaceful skies. 
Oh ! might her son, immortal Raphael, limn 
Such hills and waters floating distant, dim, 

Mirrored within thy virginal, mild eyes. 

For fadeless, then, those eyes unknowing tears 
Should smile serenely at the hurrying years. 

Frank Miles Day. 



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THE YEAR BOOK OF THE PEGASUS 



THE OVERTURE 



CUMMER smiles o'er all the land, 

Sap leaps in briers, 
Earth feels her benediction bland, 

Spring's vestal fires 
Glow brighter 'neath her breathings fanned, 
Our spirits with her blooms expand 
And join in Nature's paean grand. 

With unseen choirs. 

II 

For music's soul on aerial wings 

Hath upward soared, 
Vibrating subtle welcomings 

From chord to chord, 
And time with sweet suspicions rings 
Of all the joys dear Summer brings. 
Rich prophecies of harvestings 

In blossoms scored. 

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THE YEAR BOOK OF THE PEGASUS 



III 

Each enfreed rill with tinkhng rune 

The strain begins, 
The woods, Hke leaf-crowned nymphs, attune 

Their vioHns, 
And Zephyr, with his soft bassoon, 
Awaketh all the birds of noon. 
To swell the orchestra of June 

With flute-like dins. 



IV 

His tambour sounds the bobolink 

From screening hedge ; 
The insect trumpets swell and shrink 

On grassy ledge, 
And sheeny cymbals clash and clink. 
Where by the streamlet's mossy brink. 
Like elves, the cowslips nod and wink 

'Mid reeds of sedge. 



H 



THE YEAR BOOK OF THE PEGASUS 



From caves wherein his mermaids dwell, 

Old Ocean's keys 
Are pressed in sympathetic spell. 

Through sunlit seas, 
Each Triton blows a pearly shell. 
Each Nereid sounds a surf-swung bell, 
With rich exuberance to swell 

Life's symphonies. 



VI 

And all along each golden bar. 

In notes of light, 
Our souls read on, from star to star, 

The Song of Night, 
Like serenade from sweet guitar, 
Poured down by spirit-hands afar. 
From where the founts of music are. 

With heavenly might. 



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THE YEAR BOOK OF THE PEGASUS 



VII 

But sweeter far than aught of these 

The spirit's calm, 
The inbreathed secret sympathies 

That like a psalm 
Wake in the heart rich melodies, 
Soft soothing labor's care with ease, 
As thrill his soul pure ecstasies 

Who wins the palm. 



VIII 

Now May withdraws Spring's filmy veil 

Of tawny green, 
And lo ! round wood, stream, hill, and dale 

Bursts glory's scene, 
Plays up the Easter fairy tale 
That doth our jaded souls regale. 
While Flora's incense-urns exhale 

A balm serene. 



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THE YEAR BOOK OF THE PEGASUS 



IX 

The Princess Beauty slowly wakes 

From slumber's thrall, 
The sunshine frees from dusty flakes 

Enchantment's hall : 
Now horse, now hound, sleep's leashes breaks. 
The jessed hawk her plumage shakes, 
Young Love aroused, old ways betakes. 

Gay lord of all. 



X 

While Summer thus tends on our state. 

Fair Muse of Song, 
Shall we thy poets silent wait 

With harps unstrung *? 
No, no ; beside thy rose-crowned gate. 
The floral dial marks the date 
When thought must bloom with speech elate. 

Life's chords along. 

Charles H. A. Esling. 



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THE YEAR BOOK OF THE PEGASUS 



THE LADIES OF MANHATTAN 

ODE TO PHILADELPHIA STOLEN FROM DOBSON 

^"p^HE ladies of Manhattan 

Go swinging to the play, 
A footman and a coachman 

On top of each coupe ; 
But Philada, my Philada I 

Whene'er she goes as far 
As First-Day evening meeting, 

She takes a cable car. 

The ladies of Manhattan, 

According as they feel. 
Wear nothing on their shoulders, 

Or coats of silk and seal ; 
But Philada, my Philada ! 

Has neither frills nor furs, — 
The turtle-dove's soft raiment 

Is not so neat as hers. 

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THE YEAR BOOK OF THE PEGASUS 

The ladies of Manhattan 

Are always going out, — 
They run from call to concert, 

They drive from ball to rout : 
But Philada, my Philada I 

Has no such round perennial 
Save when, in every dozen years. 

She gets up a Centennial. 

My Philada, my Philada I 

Although it be so grand. 
The style of all Manhattan 

I do not understand ; 
I care not what the fashion 

Of all the world may be, 
For Philada— for Philada 

Is all the world to me I 

Arthur Hale. 



By permission of 

Tlie Century Magazine. 



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THE YEAR BOOK OF THE PEGASUS 



INCOMPLETENESS 



'T^HAT Love is ever perfect, who can say ? 

This morning's revery by wood and stream, 
Though full of Love's sweet quiet, lacked the gleam 
Of its intensity. From yesterday 
With all its passion peace had flown away. 
One moment, 'tis the senses seem supreme ; 
Another, and they vanish like a dream, — 
Phantoms impure that shun the Spirit's ray. 
And there are times of strange forgetfulness 
When deep beneath the surface love doth flow 
Like the still waters of a buried sea. 
Oh, what if this were heaven — not to guess 
The secrets of the centuries, but to know 
In every instant Love's entirety I 

John H. Ingham. 

By permission of 

The Traveler's Record. 



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THE YEAR BOOK OF THE PEGASUS 



CHARLES HENRY LUDERS 



" A TRIBUTE, yea, a tribute," saith my heart, 

"Though yet of months a score ye knew him 
dead 
And spake not ; ye who soon alike shall wed 
The eternal stillness." So, with lips apart. 
As a mute singer, fearful of his art, 

Whereby sweet hours sigh on unharvested, 
So were it, Charles, though grief in me ne'er bred 
One rose of song at having thee depart. 

But sorrow wills it that I needs must seek 

To break the silence that hath chilled me long. 
One friendly wreath, though not in praise, I bring ; 
It is so hard to love and not to speak, — 
It is so hard to brook the stricken song 

That, spite of Death, my heart to thee would sing. 

Gilbert P. Knapp. 



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THE YEAR BOOK OF THE PEGASUS 



MELANCHOLY 



"IXZHEN silent are the chambers of the mind 
^ To rippHng laughter and to whispering love, 

When hope hath whirred away, a mourning dove, 

And bats dart in and out, and moans the wind, 

Then melancholy comes, to night consigned. 

And haunts the moonlit windows. Perhaps above. 
Not on this earth, can shadowy thoughts that rove 

Like troubled ghosts a sweet oblivion find. 

O like some cindered orb that shineth not, 

Yet holdeth still its planets as a sun, 
Is one burnt out by sorrow and o'erfraught 

With that mute anguish of a life undone, — 
That sinking of the heart, that deadly thought 

That all is lost and would be worthless won. 

Ernest Lacy. 



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THE YEAR BOOK OF THE PEGASUS 



TO BARBARA 

" Simple ! Why, this is the old woe o' the world." 

nr^HE slow days pass : we live to learn 

How much of life is gone with thee, 
And while these long months linger, we 
Still faithful, to thy image turn. 

The little world that loved thy rule 
Scarce knew, till lost, thy firmer will. 
Thy higher aim, thy woman's skill 

O'er us, the children of thy school. 

A girl, and yet so nobly wise ! 

Self-thought and mean ambition fled 
And lower aims fell, smitten dead, — 

Killed in the pureness of her eyes : 

Brave heart and true, tender and wise. 

Though much we lost, somewhat we gained, 
For love is more, not less, nor waned, 

And, daily growing, change defies : 

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THE YEAR BOOK OF THE PEGASUS 

Nor can we dare to wish thee back, 

Since thou art happy and we gain 

New love through loss, knowledge through pain, 
And bear, as best we may, thy lack. 

John Kearsley Mitchell. 



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THE YEAR BOOK OF THE PEGASUS 



THE PASSING OF TENNYSON 

DUTY, FAITH, AND LOVE 

T SEE a black barge, ere the night is o'er, 

Come on death's mighty tide ; 
And one who fears not, on a lessening shore 
Its coming doth abide. 

On the deck three spirits wait ; 
One, a Queen of strength and state, 
At her feet two maidens kneel, — 
Courage, with the ready steel. 
Honor, with the stainless shield. 

And her eyes are set afar 

On a single argent star 
Steadfast in the azure field. 

A spirit more sublime 

Looks across the darkened sea ; 

The patience of Eternity 
Hath taught her soul the scorn of time, 

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THE YEAR BOOK OF THE PEGASUS 

And the splendor of her eyes 
Inherits awful memories. 

She, that from each sister's might 
Gathers strength to feed delight, 
Chants with heaven-lifted head, 
" Behold our sacred dead ; 
This is he, a King of song ; 
Last of those to whom belong 

That sword of light. 
Which ever dull within a meaner hand, 
Shines for the Knights of God a burning brand." 

Rose the anthem of their praise, 
" This is he of blameless days." 

" Ay, this is he 
Who with increase of thought. 
In lofty measures taught. 

To follow me, 
Devoid of mean pretence 
Were wisdom in the scorn of consequence." 

And that other sister cried, 

" This is he my soul has tried. 

Ever since his song began, 

Through the large competence of man, 

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THE YEAR BOOK OF THE PEGASUS 

Unto life's crumbling edge, 
While the faint sunset light did yet endure, 
He kept my undiminished pledge 
Of Faith secure." 

Sang anew the gentler Queen, 
" By his side I walked unseen 
Through the wide world of men. 
Again, and still again. 
As one who understands. 
With word-winged thought 

He taught 
The double love of God and man, 
That since the ages ran 
Doth keep in perfect touch our sister hands. 
For we are they with whom his life did move, — 
Duty, and Faith, and Love, 
And he for whom we wait. 
The last and loneliest of the great 
Who waked the infant century with their lays, 
And to its waning days 

Still sang elate. 
O Singer, resolute and strong, 
We bear thy soul to starry homes of Song." 

S. JVeir Mitchell. 

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THE YEAR BOOK OF THE PEGASUS 



THE CONSTELLATIONS 



/^UT where yon sentinel rocks, unmoved, emerge 

From ocean's shaking floor 
Turns, pitches in the tide ; — 
Steel-gray the waves, the grass is gray, the mist 
Trails its gray mantle o'er 
The nearer face of things, and has dismissed 
The light-house from yon far horizon verge ; 
No difference does abide 
Upon the earth lost in the flux and flow 
Of this half dark, and I, too, in my soul 
Know the new, grave control, 
And feel the fingers of the mist erase 
All memories of my pride. 

The monuments and marks that prove my race ; 
And for a moment, I 
Seem but an uncertain eddy thrust aside. 
Only a thing of nature weak and base ; 
Then do I look on high, 

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THE YEAR BOOK OF THE PEGASUS 

And, scorning the low mist with sudden glow, 

I see them rise and ride 

The Unconquerable Ones, whose chariots urge 

Through chance and change their long determined way. 

And my thoughts mount. At last, at last, I know 

My Brotherhood of the undaunted sway ! 



ir 



As erst to Scythian shepherd, or before 

To conquering Mede, or him 

Bacchus, whose flushed hordes made 

First inroad o'er the Himalayan hills ; 

Or as to Orpheus, when the rim 

Of heaven diminished and its cirque that fills 

Held but few stars, which he within him bore 

Monitors all unafraid. 

Through the long struggle and the unequal fate 

So on this August night the eternal throng 

Pours proud and fair and strong ; 

Races have left their legends on the names 

Of these who cannot fade ; 

And still distinct do glitter forth the fames 

Of imaged heroes ranged about ; 

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THE YEAR BOOK OF THE PEGASUS 

Still strides the Belted Hunter through the glade, 
The Centaur and the Twins pursue their games, 
Mingled with all the uncouth rout 
Which fancy, working with its earthy trait. 
Found on these fields displayed, 
Dragon and Bear, Lion and others more 
Who ramp at large, who with the hero crowd 
Renew the old enmity and struggle great 
Till " Triumph" in the heaven is cried aloud. 



HI 

As Helen watching by the Skaian gate 

Saw the Achaians there 

Large, luminous, and close, — 

So see I marching to their destined goal 

The armies of the air. 

Though we misread or mock the antique roll. 

Call the Greek synod from its thrones of state. 

The Arabian kings depose. 

Still to our eyes the enduring shapes must swim. 

Still must we name them whom we know supreme 

Actors of the eternal dream. 

Who, pacing from their chambers azure hung, 

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THE YEAR BOOK OF THE PEGASUS 

Blazon the gorgeous shows 

Of passion, or with untumultuous tongue 

Say and unsay old tales, 

As weave man's future in their shuffling doze. 

Look I From yon front the plumes of War are flung ; 

There Labor flags and fails, 

Following his heaving plough from ocean's rim ; 

Ruddier that region glows, 

Where Love invincible before his mate 

His armor lays aside to be more strong ; 

And One whose eyes make all this brilliance dim 

Rises remote, — 'tis Aladness veiling wrong. 



IV 

In vain, in vain to plead similitudes 

With borrowed lore, or with 

Mythologies new made ; 

Even as we hail them do the visions change, 

Our words have lost their pith : — 

Glittering successive onward range on range 

They pass untroubled by our mortal moods ; 

They do not pine and fade, 

They stoop not to Autumnal disarray, 

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THE YEAR BOOK OF THE PEGASUS 

They have no part in Spring, nor no concern 

For all that clods inurn ; — 

In Beauty's glamour and the guise of Youth 

Flushed and for aye arrayed, 

On their unaltered courses ever smooth 

They move in high employ 

Of business or of banquet or of play, 

Still with no interlude of human ruth 

Compelled to endless joy. 

Ah ! withered grass and flowers that once knew May, 

That passions' debt have paid. 

Better to be with your frail multitudes 

Than with these leaders live who bear the sway 

Twofold of Youth and Immortality. 

Charles Leonard Moore. 



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THE YEAR BOOK OF THE PEGASUS 



ORACLE 

nr^HE winds come to me 

Full of the wonderful things 
The trees have said, 
Still-standing 
On the spring-tinged hill-side. 

They bear a burden of joys, 

Sweet utterless prayers. 

From the trees 

For a birth that warms their limbs. 

As a mother feels to her child, 

Loves it past love of the earth. 

Knows 'tis a dearer part 

Of herself, — 

So say the trees to the winds 

Of the tender green-skinned buds. 

Born of them, fed of them, loved of them ! 

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THE YEAR BOOK OF THE PEGASUS 

The winds bring songs of their own : 

Of a sweet-breathed God 

Who quickens his earth and erects 

Blossoms above her breast. 

Yet not alone that ye eat 

And not alone that ye love 

Doth he sprinkle leaves in the land : 

His wisdom flows in the green 

As the words flow out of men ; 

The woods are his large rescripts, 

And the flowers his song, 

His proverbs stand in the serried corn 

And wave in the sun-shot wheat ! 

Who knoweth it, saith the wind, 

Shall find his scripture green, 

Hedges and leaning grass 

And leaves are the words he writeth. 

One import is In them all : 

Life, though it wither, dies not, 

For he is the breath of its mouth. 

Harrison S. Morris. 



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THE YEAR BOOK OF THE PEGASUS 



ARCADIANS BOTH 



T 



^'WO poets met, their friendly skill to test. 
The one a bold and hardy mountaineer, 
The other held the peaceful dale most dear : 

So each in turn sang that he loved the best. 

The sturdy mountaineer drew from his breast 

The whistle which his hounds most joyed to hear, 
And blowing shrilly, soon from far and near 

His shaggy deerhounds round their master pressed. 

Then sang he of the chase with eager joy. 
His hounds in joyous chorus baying loud. 
As if they asked to be once more allowed 

Another antlered monarch to destroy. 

The valley minstrel praised him well and long, 

Then raised the burden of his gentle song. 

The river winding through the golden grain. 
As thread of silver in a silken maze, 
Reflects the sunshine of the summer days. 

As maid the ardent glances of her swain ; 

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THE YEAR BOOK OF THE PEGASUS 

The boatmen, gliding to the stormy main 

With eager looks at their dim homesteads gaze, 
Then bending to their work their voices raise, 

In echo to their hearts, a sad refrain. 

Such humble sounds and sights as these I sing, 
A simple dweller 'neath your mountain crags ; 

But through the land not e'en the richest king, 
Though he hath hounds to hunt a hundred stags, 

Can buy the joys these simple pleasures bring. 

For not from wealth, but poverty, they spring. 

Oliver Perry-Smith. 



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THE YEAR BOOK OF THE PEGASUS 



THE PRINCE OF PEACE 

A WORLD from chaos whirled in circled flame : 
** ^ And Wisdom, rising from the feet of God, 
Grasped firm its untrained forces and led forth, 
In smiling beauty, the perfected Earth. 

But the forgetting Earth in rapture sang : 
" To float in the light of thy smile, 
O thou god in the azure above me. 
Is bliss, for thy kisses beguile 

All my love, for 'tis thou who dost love me.'* 

The slayer stalked red-handed through the world : 
The robber boasted ; and the unheard plea 
From fear-locked lips and gaping mortal wounds 
Rose in a swelling cloud before the Throne. 
Swift Justice leaped to feet too long restrained, 
His mantle falling over shrinking Peace ; 
And slayer fell ; the robber lay despoiled ; 
And lips laughed triumph — but the dead were dead ; 
And Retribution reigned, but by his throne 
Forgiveness found no place, nor in the world. 

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THE YEAR BOOK OF THE PEGASUS 

Then wailed the Earth, with groping, outstretched arms : 
" Thou cruel, mocking god ! 
Thou smilest while I weep. 
Oh, take me, dread abyss ! 
Thy gloom I count but bliss — 

But bliss thy deepest deep, 
T' escape from such a god." 

Sweet Peace arose, and, casting off the cloak 

That veiled her beauty from a murderous world. 

Looked long upon the bleeding breast of Earth. 

Its heavings stilled ; its wounds grew smooth and white. 

And songs arose where erst were heard but groans. 

Then, starry bright, she coursed the azure sphere. 

And hovered o'er the hills of Bethlehem, — 

And night was vocal with the angels' song. 

Then, dove-like, settling down, she crowned a babe 

In hay-spread manger in a stable laid, 

And gave a waiting world its Prince of Peace. 

And kneeling Earth, with tear-stained eyes, sang praise : 
" Jehovah, God, 

Thou giver of all good, 
I kiss Thy rod. 

Its kindness understood ! 

38 



THE YEAR BOOK OF THE PEGASUS 

" Hail, Prince of Peace ! 
Thy gentle sway extend, 
Till mine, as I, 

In adoration bend !" 

His strength is Wisdom, and His righting arm 
Is Justice ; but His mightiest power to rule 
Is gentle Peace and her handmaiden Love. 

Charles Pomeroy Sherman. 



By permission of 

The Illustrated Christian Weekly. 



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THE YEAR BOOK OF THE PEGASUS 



THE BEGGAR'S GIFT 

" L'afFame . . . paya de tout I'argent mendie un gros bouquet . . . et Toffrit 
a la jolie fille." — Mendes. 

"1X70RN and weary and hungry-eyed, 
^ ^ Closely wrapped in his mantle wide, 

His tattered dress by its folds concealed. 
The beggar stood at the pathway's side 

And for charity appealed. 

Young was he, with a handsome face ; 
His black hair curled with a careless grace ; 

His dusky cheek wore a tinge of red, 
Though pinched and drawn from his piteous case, — 

He had fasted two days, he said. 

The townfolk passed with a heedless air. 
For beggars in Spain are everywhere, 

Till three young maidens came anigh ; 
All were merry, and all were fair. 

And they stopped at the beggar's cry. 

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THE YEAR BOOK OF THE PEGASUS 

One gave a real to his demand. 

The second tore from her wristlet band 

(A gift from her lover) a silver toy, — 
She smiled as it dropped in the beggar's hand. 

And whispered, " God give you joy !" 

The third had never a thing to spare ; 
She was poor as the beggar, and only fair 

With a beauty born of her native South, 
So she raised her lips like a red flower rare 

And kissed him full on the mouth. 

His thin cheek flushed, and his heart beat high. 
He called to a flower-girl passing nigh, 

" Ho ! here is silver, and here is gold ; 
Come, give me all that my alms will buy !" 

He took what his arms could hold, 

Great red roses and harebells blue. 
All the blossoms the season knew. 

And laid them down at the maiden's feet ; 
Then close about him his mantle drew, 

And starving, left the street. 

S. Decatur Smith, Jr. 



By permission of 

The Pittsburgh Bulletin. 



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THE YEAR BOOK OF THE PEGASUS 



MORS BENEFICA 

/'^IVE me to die unwitting of the day, 

^^ And stricken in Life's brave heat, with senses 
clear ; 
Not swathed and couched until the lines appear 

Of Death's wan mask upon this withering clay, 

But as that old man eloquent made way 

From Earth, a nation's conclave hushed anear, — 
Or as the chief whose fates, that he may hear 

The victory, one glorious moment stay. 

Or, if not thus, then with no cry in vain, 
No ministrant beside to ward and weep. 
Hand upon helm I would my quittance gain 

In some wild turmoil of the waters deep. 

And sink content into a dreamless sleep 

(Spared grave and shroud) below the ancient main. 

Edmund Clarence Stedman. 

By permission of 

The Century Magazine. 



42 



THE YEAR BOOK OF THE PEGASUS 



OF WOMEN CLERKS 

13EFORE she came to us, with tiny feet 
Tripping confidingly amidst the roar 
Of grim Downtown, man's last redoubt, before 

Thy presence, Woman, tempered all the Street 

And shed soft light and made dictation sweet, 
Men were as bears, untutored bears, and wore 
Their shirt-sleeves visible, and slammed the door 

And led self-centred lives, and incomplete. 

Gone are those brutish days. Faint, suave perfume 
Of orris lingers on the smokeless air. 
And — save a glittering pin-point here and there — 

Fair Order rules from desk to anteroom. 
And one base wretch I know, who, unconsoled. 
Mourns the rude freedom that was man's of old. 

John Stewardson. 



43 



THE YEAR BOOK OF THE PEGASUS 



DREAMLAND 

T CLOSE my eyes in sleep, and silent lie 
As if in death, unconscious of all else ; 
And till the waking hours restore my strength. 
My weary senses to the present die. 

Meantime my soul abroad in dreamland strays, 
And wanders to and fro in mystic lands 
Where, waking, I can never hope to go. 

Nor into which my human eyes may gaze. 

Is it a vision, as it often seems*? 

I cannot tell, and yet I sometimes feel 
As if the passing days are not more true 

Than those bright moments in the land of dreams. 

But when, in coming days, my eyes shall close 
In that last sleep which wakens not on earth, 
I then may find that dreamland was my home. 

And life the vision of phantasmal shows. 

Henry H. Supplee. 



44 



THE YEAR BOOK OF THE PEGASUS 



BUT YESTERDAY 

A H, was it not but yesterday 
We two, love, you and I, 
Were all in all ? The envious say 
The years have hastened by ; 
But not so, love I It cannot be ; 
I know no flight of time 
Whose favors are inconstancy 
And life's dull pantomime. 
All is unchanged. Come, give me joy. 
Though morning breaks in gray ; 
Can one drear night our love destroy 
That blossomed — yesterday ? 

Ah, was it not but yesterday ? 

In memory's magic glass 

The deeds of years in brave array 

In august pageant pass. 

A Circe web is woven wide, 

As mind's fast shuttles fly, 

45 



THE YEAR BOOK OF THE PEGASUS 

And dreamland actions swiftly glide 
Just in the blink of eye. 
Success, defeats, and all their train 
Of joys and woes — Nay ! Nay ! 
The fleeting vision gives no pain. 
When 'twas but yesterday. 

Forgot is time, forgot is age ; 

A plague on memory ! 

Truth oft is hidden in its page, 

A palimpsest decree. 

For was it not but yesterday 

We two, together, here *? 

Love is not dead, and life is gay, — 

We weep beside no bier. 

Poor, sordid souls reproach the hour 

That wings its rapid way ; 

Dear Heart, they know not love's sweet power,- 

It was but yesterday. 

Harvey Maitland Watts. 



46 



THE YEAR BOOK OF THE PEGASUS 



LOVE CAME TO ME 



L 



OVE came to me when I was young ; 

He brought me songs, he brought me flowers ; 
Love wooed me Hghtly, trees among, 
And daUied under scented bowers ; 

And loud he carolled, " Love is King !" 
For he was riotous as spring 
And careless of the hours, — 
When I was young. 

Love lingered near when I grew old ; 

He brought me light from stars above ; 
And consolations manifold 
He fluted to me like a dove ; 

And Love leaned out of Paradise 
And gently kissed my faded eyes 
And whispered, " God is Love," — 
When I grew old. 

Francis Howard JVilliams. 



M 



THE YEAR BOOK OF THE PEGASUS 



THE GROUND-HOG AND THE SIGNAL- 
SERVICE OFFICER 

AT noon on the appointed day 

The Ground-Hog stole from where he lay, and 
seeing 
No shadow in the clouded Sun, 
Observed, " This Winter's race is run. 
The Spring will soon come into being." 

A Scientific man o'erheard 

The quadruped's prophetic word with scoffing ; 

He was a Signal-Service man. 

And some predictions he began 
From data gathered in the offing. 

Said he, " Why make your idle boast. 
When from interior and coast our stations 

Report that this year we shall see 

The latest Spring since twenty-three, 
And such are all the indications *? 

48 



THE YEAR BOOK OF THE PEGASUS 

" Do you pretend your lore effete 

Of Grandam's legends can compete with Science ? 

What do you know of almanacs, 

Of isotherm, and parallax, 
To bid aerometers defiance'?" 

Each on his hobby waxed so hot. 

Through days and weeks, he clean forgot the weather. 
An average Season bloomed and found 
These savants screeching on the ground 

Knocking their hostile minds together. 

A farmer said, " I'm glad, because 

I sowed as usual." (He was a Quaker.) 

" Of theory I've had my fill ; 

Without its aid methinks I'll till 
In ignorance and ease my acre." 

Owen Wister. 



49 



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